character. Granting that Tennyson is the best exponent of the Victorian era, is he a great representative poet, like Lucretius, Dante, or Chaucer? Does he not interpret some of the temporary phases of his generation, rather than the life and spirit of the nineteenth century? And may not the representative element in his verse be of secondary moment and ephemeral? The poems which are perennially fresh, like "The Miller's Daughter," and "Rizpah," are so because they appeal to the heart and intellect of all times. Upon these and such as these, Tennyson's following and reputation must ultimately rest, not upon such fugitive pieces as "Hands all Round" and "Riflemen form." Tennyson's charm is as subtle and potent as is that of the courtly, polished Horace; but his charm consists largely of verbal felicities that are untranslatable. According to Dryden, if Shakespeare's "embroideries were burned down, there would be silver at the bottom of the melting-pot.' Tennyson's songs do not translate so well as Uhland's. If turned into prose, their charm vanishes. He is great in small things, not in grand ideas. Nature did not endow him with the pure, fresh, joyous imagination of Homer, the calm, brooding, radiant atmosphere through which the old bard saw so clearly and buoyantly. His pages fairly bristle with subtleties in thought and expression, with fantastic novelties and meretricious ornaments, which lose half of their effect and beauty when transferred into a foreign language. His "distilled thoughts in distilled words," as Matthew Arnold calls them, must be read in English. Much of Tennyson's verse is open to criticism, being cold and labored, also lacking in sustained force and elevation. A vast deal that he wrote can be described as polished mediocrity. With all their rich music and color, most of his shorter pieces have not the majesty which the highest imagination alone can confer. All of his longer productions show the varying character of his work, by turns superb and weak. His mannerisms are carried to excess. His felicities are often such as only the cultivated reader can appreciate. Ordinary people would enjoy less of refinement and more of vigor. Tennyson is not, then, one of the mighty cosmopolitan forces of literature. Not one of those who suffered for poetry's sake, whose words are graven into the heart of civilized humanity. He sang so sweetly, and did so much to brighten and to dignify the life of mortals, that his name must needs long remain a household word wherever the Saxon tongue is heard. Much of his brilliant metrical foliage will wither "with the process of the suns." Nevertheless, his fame is enduring. He is more than a skilful versifier or literary artist, whose mellifluous lines and clear-cut, pithy phrases will continue to be quoted in after ages. Alfred Tennyson's poetical performances won for him the lasting distinction of being a 'genuine bard, one whose seat is far up among the throned sovereigns of British song. EUGENE PARSONS Aug. 10, 1896 BIBLIOGRAPHY OF FIRST EDITIONS. 1827 Poems by Two Brothers. London. Printed for W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, and J. & J. Jackson, Louth. MDCCCXXVII. pp. xii., 228. 1829 Timbuctoo: A Poem which obtained the Chancellor's Medal at the Cambridge Commencement, MDCCCXXIX. By ALFRED Tennyson, of Trinity Col lege. Printed in "Prolusiones Academicae; MDCCCXXIX. Cantabrigiae: typis academicis excudit Joannes Smith." 1830 Poems, Chiefly Lyrical. By Alfred TennysON. London: Effingham Wilson, Royal Exchange, Cornhill, 1830. pp. 154, and leaf of Errata. 1832 Poems by ALFRED TENNYSON. MDCCCXXXIII. pp. 163. 1842 Poems by ALFRED TENNYSON. London: Edward Moxon, 64 New Bond Street. In Two Volumes. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street. MDCCCXLII. pp. vii., 233; vii., 231. 1847 The Princess: A Medley. By ALFRED TENNYSON. London: Moxon. MDCCCXLVII. pp. 164. Intercalary lyrics added in third edition, 1850. 1850 In Memoriam. London: Moxon. MDCCCL. pp. vii., 210. Section LIX. inserted in the fourth edition, 1851; and XXXIX. in 1869. 1852 Ode on the Death of the Duke of Wellington. By ALFred Tennyson, PoetLaureate. London: Moxon. pp. 16. 1855 Maud, and Other Poems. By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L., Poet-Laureate. London: Moxon. pp. 154. 1859 Idylls of the King. By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L., Poet-Laureate. London: Moxon & Co. pp. 261. The two idylls, “Enid" and "Vivien,” privately printed in 1857 with the title "Enid and Nimuë." The "Dedication" first appeared in 1862; the epilogue "To the Queen" in 1873. 1864 Enoch Arden, etc. By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L., Poet-Laureate. London: Moxon. pp. 178. 1865 A Selection from the Works of Alfred Tennyson. London: Moxon. This volume contains seven new poems: "The Captain,” ," "On a Mourner," three "Sonnets," and two "Songs." pp. 256. 1869 The Holy Grail, and Other Poems. By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L., Poet. Laureate. Strahan, 56 Ludgate Hill, London. pp. 222. 1870 The Window; or, The Song of the Wrens. London: Strahan. 1872 Gareth and Lynette, etc. By ALFRED TENNYSON, D.C.L., Poet-Laureate. Strahan. pp. 136. 1875 Queen Mary: A Drama. BY ALFRED TENNYSON, London. pp. viii., 278. 1876 Harold A Drama. By ALFRED TENNYSON. London: H. S. King. pp. viii., 161 1879 The Lover's Tale. By Alfred TENNYSON. London: C. Kegan Paul. pp. vi., 184. 1884 The Cup and The Falcon. By ALFred, Lord TENNYSON, Poet-Laureate. London: Macmillan & Co. pp. 146. Becket. By Alfred, Lord TENNYSON, Poet-Laureate. London: Macmillan. pp. 213. 1885 Tiresias, and Other Poems. By ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON, D.C.L., P.L. London: Macmillan. pp. viii., 204. 1 1886 Locksley Hall Sixty Years After, etc. By ALFRED, Lord Tennyson, P.L., D.C.L. London: Macmillan. pp. 201. 1889 Demeter, and Other Poems. By ALFRED, Lord TENNYSON, P.L., D.C.L. London: Macmillan. pp. vi., 175. 1892 The Foresters: Robin Hood and Maid Marian. By ALFRED, LORD TENNY. SON, Poet-Laureate. London: Macmillan. pp. 155. The Death of Enone, Akbar's Dream, and Other Poems. By ALFRED, LORD |